Červenka: 40 & Still Dominating Hockey | Key to Victory

A light celebratory hand pump, a tap with your teammates and back to work. Roman Červenka started his first national team match as a 40-year-old. In the Euro Hockey Tour match against Finland, he decorated it with a goal, then added an assist on another goal.

“Leave it alone,” the captain sneered when mentioning that he didn’t have to wait very long for the first goal after Wednesday’s jubilee.

“It was a goal that is scored a lot in the NHL,” liked coach Radi Rulík. Červenka has a habit of inventing ingenious loops and drawing recordings in front of an empty gate.

He did it differently against Finland.

He reacted like according to the textbook. He got involved in Filip Chlapík’s throw-in, skilfully stuck his hockey stick into the flying puck. “He did it excellently, he stepped back, he dribbled the puck perfectly. Excellent work on his part,” Rulík continued.

The regular matches, when the Czech Republic meets Finland, Sweden and Switzerland, now acquire the stamp that they are playing for places for the Olympics in Milan.

Although how for whom. After Červenka, the Euro Hockey Tour event is not a fight for a nomination. You can feel more and more how strong his position is with coach Rulík. His golden captain from the World Cup in Prague is high in the plans for Milan.

When NHL players went to the Olympics for the last time, in 2014 in Sochi, Červenka was there too. He started in the formation with captain Tomáš Plekanec, the current national team assistant, and Jaromír Jágr.

At the age of 42, Jagr was one of the team’s best players. At the time, it was discussed with Červenka that he gave the pucks to the “master” too willingly and often. It was still waiting for the flashes that would come here and there to replace the eruptions.

Since the 2022 World Cup, when the Czech Republic won bronze, Červenka is king. The best hockey player in the country is David Pastrňák, but the captain with number 10 is the leader. All of a sudden he became a guy who even once disgruntled fans would shake off his hand.

Before the match in Liberec, the announcer called him out during the ice skating. The camera focused on Červenka, which transmitted the image to the cube. Only a few hundred fans were sitting in the seats, half an hour before the start of the match they were wandering around the hall or just looking for a place to park. But even this small group spoke loudly.

At the time around Sochi, this would be an unimaginable thing. Times have changed so much.

While he was breaking up the match with a towel around his shoulders, his name was called a few more times from the hall.

The hockey player, who received a state award from President Petr Pavel a year ago, perceives how his popularity has soared. “It’s pleasant,” he nodded. “Before the match, of course, I know about it, I could see how people were calling and cheering. But as I’m concentrating on the beginning, I try not to deal with it too much. But the people were great, we played in a wonderful atmosphere,” he quickly diverted the topic elsewhere so that he wouldn’t be talked about too much.

For the first time since the World Championships in Prague, Lukáš Sedlák faced Roman Červenka and Ondřej Kaš. The first two play together in Pardubice, they were waiting for the third. His national team was interrupted by health problems.

They scored two goals against Finland, created important moments. “I liked their cooperation. They improved their game during the match, they scored two goals, they helped the team a lot. They will start one more time in the tournament, they will be together again. They will keep improving,” the coach was sure.

The possibility is that they would go to the Olympics as a complete trio. Or not either. Rulík has more variants and he doesn’t talk about them openly in advance.

“It was great to come back to the boys after such a long time,” Lithuanian forward Kaše was pleased to play with the Pardubice unit again. “I’ll admit that I was nervous at the beginning,” snorted the 30-year-old fighter with 258 games in the NHL.

But the stress soon faded from him. He also scored a goal. He and Sedlák supplied energy, Červenka tried to create a game. Although even this formation often came under Finnish pressure.

Rulík’s assessment that the trio with Červenka grew in the match fits well here. “Maybe a good one,” smiled the 40-year-old who received a cake the day before the match. He tasted a bit of it himself on Wednesday evening. The sugars really benefited him.

He had a big part in the 3-1 result. A goal and an assist are exactly why he went to the Euro Hockey Tour event. He answered the question if he can be strong offensively here as well. He can.

Finland has the best skaters in the tournament. Last time in Tampere, they were able to completely start the Czech team. “They always skate well, they are fast. The only thing that matters for them is the system they play in. They try to attack and fly everywhere. If you don’t get the pucks off the stick quickly, you get into trouble,” Červenka added his impression.

He definitely did not get pneumonia from the Finnish movement.

It was no mean feat for 40 years. He wouldn’t even be twenty-five, Červenka simply confirmed the standard.

“That’s wonderful,” he sneered before Captain Kaš’s performance. “Cervus takes care of his body 200 percent, and you can see it. I think he feels that way at twenty-five. Forty is just a number for him,” he added.